AU chair appeals for DRC peace
2004-03-31 11:35
Addis Ababa - The African Union (AU) Council chair Alpha Oumar Konare expressed serious concern on Tuesday over attacks on various targets in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa, over the weekend.
"I am pleased that the attempt to destabilise the transitional institution of the DRC, at a time the country is pursuing its national reconciliation, has failed," Konare said.
"I appeal to all Congolese parties to the peace and national reconciliation process and to the Congolese people to remain united in order to bring the ongoing transition to completion," Konare said.
Konare reiterated his personal commitment and that of the entire AU Commission "to continue to support Congolese in their difficult but exalting endeavour to build a new all-inclusive, united, democratic, prosperous, and reconciled Congo".
DRC government spokesperson Vital Kamerhe said late on Monday on UN-sponsored Radio Okapi that preliminary investigations pointed to the assailants being former members of the late Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko's presidential guard.
Many members of Mobutu's four thousand-strong elite special guard fled to Brazzaville when Laurent Kabila, father of the current DRC President Joseph Kabila, ousted the dictator in 1997.
Two DRC government soldiers were killed in the fighting at the weekend, while casualties on the assailants' side were unknown as of Tuesday.
Twenty people have been arrested and another 18 managed to escape, according to the DRC authorities.